


The Boxer

by things_that_matter



Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [14]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Corporal Punishment, Discipline, Domestic Fluff, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Intimacy, M/M, Non-Consensual Spanking, Punishment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:49:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28893195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/things_that_matter/pseuds/things_that_matter
Summary: Poor little Ollie got into a fight at school.
Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman
Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094873
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	The Boxer

**Author's Note:**

> I almost put this one in the Outtakes series instead, because it's kind of heavy and sad more like my earlier stories. I'm almost to the end of the series, unless I write more new ones.

Elio looked at the sign in sheet for a long time, even though someone was waiting behind him. It was almost as if he'd temporarily forgotten how to write his own name. Finally, the woman behind him cleared her throat, so he quickly scribbled something close to his name and then looked around nervously, unsure of what would happen next. Oliver had offered to leave work to come with him, and now he wished he’d let him. 

“I’m here about Ollie Perlman,” he told the school secretary who was looking at him inquisitively. 

He saw understanding settle over her face. “Oh yes, of course,” she said. “Are you his dad?” 

“I’m his legal guardian,” was all he offered as an explanation. He would have given the details; he wasn't ashamed. But she seemed nosy, and no one likes a nosy person. 

“Okay,” she commented while scrutinizing his signature. He wondered cynically where she had obtained her training in handwriting analysis. Eventually she waved him on. “Come around the corner and enter through the door on your left.” 

Elio nodded and entered the office as she had indicated. He thought, not for the first time, how much schools reminded him of miniature child-prisons. The fences. The cameras. The cinderblock. The cafeteria bartering, but the currency here would be Twinkies rather than cigarettes. At least he certainly hoped so. He'd been educated at home by his parents, and the institution of "school" made him uncomfortable. However, Oliver was a teacher, at a university but still, so he was strongly in favor of Ollie attending "real, legitimate school" as he referred to it. 

Upon entering the office, the first thing that caught his eye was Ollie, looking even younger and smaller than his seven years, as he sat in an oversized chair outside a door marked, “Principal.” The second thing he noticed, almost at the same time, was the discoloration under Ollie's eye that would probably become a black eye by that evening. 

When the school had called and told him that he had to come pick up Ollie, that he’d been in a fight, Elio had envisioned a little scuffle. Maybe some pushing. He certainly hadn’t imagined that his adorable, sweet little brother had been injured in a real fight. He’d been furious with his brother as he drove to the school, but seeing him now, his anger abated. Ollie was looking steadfastly at his lap as if Elio wasn’t standing before him. It reminded Elio of a baby who didn't yet understand object permanence. 

“Are you okay?” Elio asked quietly. 

Ollie finally looked up at him and nodded. “I’m sorry,” Ollie offered meekly. Elio just nodded in return, unsure of what to say. He really wished Oliver was with him. 

To the secretary he said, “He needs some ice.” When she looked at him blankly, he added further explanation, “For his eye? Ice?” 

“Oh, of course,” she finally said. “I’ll call the nurse to bring him some.” Elio nodded again. 

When the nurse brought the ice pack, Elio took it and placed it under Ollie’s eye. “Hold it there as much as you can. You can take breaks if you need to,” he explained gently and then looked up at the principal who was by this time waiting for him. "Wait right here," he added, as he turned and entered the office. 

"Thank you for coming," the principal greeted. Elio nodded. He felt irritated by her. As if he would _not_ come. He waited for her to offer some explanation about what had occurred, but she didn't. Instead she proceeded, "He will go home with you today, and this can count as day one. He will be suspended for three days. His teacher is gathering the work he will miss. You can wait for it, or you can stop by and get it tomorrow." 

She was filling out papers, not even glancing up at him, as she spoke. 

Elio was cycling quickly through a variety of emotions. Anger. Confusion. Worry. Curiosity. Concern. Eventually, he started to feel somewhat numb. Before he knew what was happening, she was shuffling the papers across her desk along with a pen and telling him to sign. He saw that the top of the paper was marked "Incident Report," but when he began to read it, he saw no real explanation of the actual incident. Ollie had gotten into a fight with another student and both were suspended. 

Elio picked up the pen and clicked it nervously a few times. Finally he asked, "But... what happened?" 

She looked at him as if he had said something confusing. "It doesn't change the outcome. At this school, when there is a fight, both parties are held equally responsible and given the same punishment." 

He shook his head slowly, "I don't care about that. I am asking you what happened." 

After a pause that felt uncomfortably long, she finally said simply, "We don't know. Neither of the boys would tell us what happened, and as I said before, it doesn't change the outcome." 

"What do you mean they wouldn't tell you?" Elio asked. 

"I mean that we asked them both, and they both refused to answer." 

Elio could feel that his jaw was slack, his mouth slightly opened. He felt like a caricature of dismay. 

When she offered nothing more, he stood and walked over to the door. "I think Ollie can be compelled to tell us what happened," he said matter-of-factly. The principal may not care what happened, but he certainly did. He tugged the door open, leaned out, and gestured for Ollie, who was still holding the ice under his eye. Ollie walked over, looking sad and miserable. Elio indicated a small chair that was in the office, and Ollie sat in it. Elio sat beside him in a bigger chair. The principal was sitting on the other side of her desk in an even bigger chair, and Elio suddenly felt as if they were in the house of the three bears, making the experience feel even more surreal. 

"Ollie, your principal told me you wouldn't tell her what happened," Elio stated mildly. Ollie shrugged without looking up. Elio continued, "I want to know what the fight was about." 

"I don't know," Ollie mumbled. 

"You do know," Elio said. 

Ollie shrugged again. 

Elio gave him what he hoped was a stern, Oliver-ish look. "You _DO_ know," he repeated. 

Ollie crossed his arms, pulled his eyebrows together, and pressed his lips together as if to signal not only his anger, but also his unwillingness to speak. 

The principal cast her gaze from Ollie to Elio as if to say, " _See_?" 

Elio sighed. 

"You're only making things worse for yourself," Elio tried a vague threat. 

It seemed to work, because Ollie looked up at him, and his face grew a little less taut. Elio decided to wait a moment before proceeding. 

Finally, Ollie said to Elio, "I _know_ , but I don't wanna _say_." 

"Ollie, when you get suspended from school for three days, you're going to tell me why," Elio said, keeping his tone even. 

Ollie splayed his legs and arms, slid down into the baby bear sized chair, resting his head on the back of chair, staring blankly up at the ceiling and gave a loud, elaborate groan. Elio almost wanted to laugh, so dramatic was this display. But of course, he didn't. 

The principal took a conveniently timed sip of water, and Elio suspected she was suppressing a laugh as well. For some reason, this offended him even though he'd had the same initial reaction. 

Finally, Elio looked at the principal and asked, "Is there somewhere Ollie and I can talk in private?" 

This seemed to startle the woman. Elio began to wonder if everyone in the building thought that everything was their business. But, she gathered herself and said, "Of course, you can talk here. I need to go walk through a few classrooms anyway. I will be back in about 15 minutes, but there is no need to wait for me, I just need your signature." She gave a glance in the direction of the incident report. 

Elio felt himself roll his eyes, though he hadn't meant to. "Thanks," he muttered. 

After she left, he turned his attention to Ollie. 

"Now, sit up and talk to me. What happened?" he asked. 

Ollie sat up, but to Elio's surprise, he was no more forthcoming than he had been before. If anything, he became a bit belligerent. "I DON'T want to SAY," he reiterated. 

Elio found himself teetering right on the line that separated his roles of brother and guardian, which was a place where he most uncomfortable. 

"You're grounded the entire three days you're home," Elio made the decision at the same time that he spoke the words, surprising himself as much as he did Ollie. Ollie looked hurt, as he always did when it was Elio meting out the punishments, which is probably why it usually fell to Oliver. But still he continued, "No video games, no television, no iPad, no playing outside." 

Ollie jerked his head up and looked at Elio with a mixture of hurt and outrage. His brows knit together, but his jaw slackened, creating a duality on his face that Elio knew probably mirrored his feelings. Which of course mirrored Elio's own feelings as well. 

He didn't want to, but as if by some outside force he was compelled to continue, "You won't be bored though, because there will be plenty of extra chores for you, plus your school work." After a lengthy pause, he added the final embellishment, "And that's IF you tell me what happened. If you don't, it will be even worse." 

Ollie started to cry then, not knowing when this list of punishments would ever end. Ollie's tears dissolved his brother's anger as effortlessly as steaming water dissolves the sugar in a cup of hot tea. Part of him wanted to take back everything he had just said. Part of him didn't. All of him was completely torn, yet again. 

In the moment, he did what felt right at the time. He reached across and took Ollie's hand, and gave it a light tug while whispering, "Come here." Then he pulled Ollie from the small chair, toward his own chair, and then onto his lap. He wrapped both arms around him and kissed the top of his head. "Don't cry," he softly said. He was relieved when Ollie stopped crying relatively easily, and Elio wiped away the tears with his own sleeve. "Please just tell me, Ollie," he implored. 

Finally, Ollie muttered something so softly that Elio couldn't make out what he'd said. "What?" he asked, and held his breath in anticipation, unsure whether Ollie would be willing to repeat it. And, he was correct, Ollie didn't want to. But finally, _finally_ , he did. 

"He called you a bad name. And Oliver a bad name, too. And I _don't_ want to say it," he insisted. Elio held him as tightly as he could without smothering him. How could kids be so mean, he wondered. 

"You don't have to say it," Elio gently said. There was no need. He knew. 

Then Ollie added angrily, "And I don't care how long I'm grounded for, no one's going to call you a bad name in front of me without retaliation!!" 

Elio suddenly realized that as protective as he was of Ollie, so too was Ollie protective of him. Elio put Ollie down off his lap, handed him some tissues from a box nearby, and picked up a pen. He quickly signed the incident report, but was relieved to see there was space for him to add comments. He left a note explaining what happened to cause the fight, and that he would check with the school board to find out how a situation like this would be handled. Then he took Ollie's hand and exited the Principal's office, and then the outer office. 

Elio was proud of himself. He'd handled a serious problem on his own, without any help from Oliver. He still had to decide whether his list of punishments would stand, but he'd at least gotten to the bottom of what happened and had made it out of the school with both himself and Ollie in one piece. As he was basking in his success at adulting, Ollie piped up, "Elio?" 

"Yes?" Elio answered. 

"You forgot to sign out," Ollie reminded. 

"Damn it," Elio said, but they didn't go back. 


End file.
